I'll Always Remember (Never Forget)
by FanficFan920
Summary: When Steven calls Connie and asks if she could come over, she reveals she is in Empire City with her family. When Steven asks why, all Connie said was to ask his dad. So he does. *A tribute to all those who died on September 11th, 2001* *Styled like a real SU episode, so there's not much of an intro, it just gets started really quickly*


**Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe, Rebecca Sugar does, nor do I the song 'I'll Always Remember' by Jo Ann Biviano.**

 **' _Italics_ ' means Greg is singing**

 **I'll Always Remember**

"What do you mean you can't hang out today? You're always available on weekends," A surprised Steven Quartz Universe spoke into his cell phone.

On the other end of the line was his best friend, Connie Maheshwaren, calling to tell him she couldn't come to Beach City that day due to them taking a day trip to Empire City, which was where she was right then.

"I'm sorry, Steven, but I need to be here. If you don't understand what I'm talking about, ask your dad or the gems. Okay?" Connie asked.

Steven gave a defeated sigh, "Okay."

Connie smiled in relief on the other end of the line.

"Thanks," she replied, "You have a good day."

"You too."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Steven pressed the 'Hang Up' icon on his phone to end his call. It just didn't seem fair. Why did Connie's parents take her to Empire City on some random Sunday in September?

He decided to get his answers from his dad, Greg Universe. It wasn't that he didn't trust the gems to give him the answers he seeked, but Greg, like Steven himself, was born on Earth and would probably have a more accurate explanation, considering whatever reason Connie was in Empire City had to do with humans, and not gems.

 **TIMESKIP**

Greg Universe was listening to some old songs when he heard a pounding on his van door.

"Daaaaad," Steven cried from the other end.

Greg pried open the door to make eye contact with his son.

"Oh. Hey, Stu-ball. What's going on?" he asked.

"I have a question," Steven said.

"Alright, shoot," Greg said, ready for whatever question Steven had.

"Why is Connie and her family in Empire City for today only?" He asked.

Okay, correction, Greg was ready for any question Steven had except for any involving THAT day.

"Well..." Greg stumbled over his words,"... it's kind of a long story."

"A story?!" Steven shouted.

"You want me to sing a song, don't you?" Greg asked, a solemn smile on his face.

Steven nodded repeatedly.

Greg sighed. Maybe a song was the best way to lead in to a story that took him back to one of the most horrifying days in his life, September 11th, 2001.

" _Tuesday morning, I'm off to work_

 _Hustling to the car still buttoning my shirt_

 _Like every other day, turn on the radio_ ," Greg begs to strum his acoustic guitar as he sang.

We flashback to September 11th, 2001, and we see Greg exiting his van and putting on his "It's a wash" t-shirt, and walking to the aforementioned establishment. He was late. Again. It's not his fault he overslept.

Once he got there, his boss was listening intently to the radio, and the man who hired him, for the first time since Greg met him, looked truly scared and on edge.

" _Something 'bout planes crashing, buildings burning_

 _The minutes passing by, we're still learning_

 _What's goin on...nobody knows_ ," Greg continued his song.

Greg's boss explained what he had heard over the radio since he got there this morning. At 8:46 am, a large Commercial Airliner crashed into one of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in Empire City, and not a few minutes before Greg arrived at 'It's a Wash', at 9:03 am, another plane crashed into the other Twin Tower.

" _It's the day the lights went out, the day the lights went on_

 _The day our hearts were broken and our spirit strong_ ," Greg sang.

Greg and his boss both shared a brotherly embrace, to comfort eachother before they both sat down and listened to the radio.

" _I'll always remember_

 _The way we came together_

 _Mother and father, sister and brother_

 _Total strangers helping each other_

 _The day the world grew bigger_

 _I'll always remember_ "

Later in the day, Greg decided to check on his friend Vidalia, to see how she was holding up. From when he arrived at work to that moment, he and his boss learned the two planes that had struck the Twin Towers were hijacked, a third hijacked plane had struck the Pentagon in Capital City, and a fourth plane had crashed in a field in Shanksville, Keystone State, for what reason, they didn't know.

Once Vidalia opened the door, Greg instantly knew how she was dealing with this attack on their country. All Vidalia do was embrace Greg right then and there, and that was what had finally broken Greg Universe, and fir the first time that day, he cried.

" _Same time each year, it comes back on the news_

 _These images and tragedies giving me the blues_

 _Look at my life, who I am and how I feel"_ Greg continued to sing."

His next visit that day was to his girlfriend. The gem from outer space, Rose Quartz.

"I don't understand," the pink-haired alien said, after being told of the day's events to Greg, "How could humans do this to their own kind?"

"I don't know Rose, I just don't know," was all Greg could say.

He noticed that two of the three of Rose's companions were spying on the two.

Pearl and Amethyst were both dumbfounded by Greg's tale, just as Rose was.

"When I get my hands on whoever destroyed those towers , I'm gonna give them one of these," Amethyst said, bringing out her whip and chipped away at some rock on the outside Temple wall. Meanwhile, Pearl was more or less there to spy on Greg and Rose, a fact that she still denies to this day, but hearing the news had an effect on her as well.

"We saved their species thousands of years ago, and all they do is destroy each other," Pearl lamented.

And somewhere, inside the temple, the fusion Garnet was struggling to hold herself together due to the severity of Ruby's emotions and Sapphire being overwhelmed by what had happened.

" _I want to be a better father, better person_

 _Better friend to those who are hurtin_

 _Make sure the moments in my life are real_ " Greg sang.

" _It's the day the lights went out, the day the lights went on_

 _The day our hearts were broken and our spirit strong"_

 _"I'll always remember_

 _The way we came together_

 _Mother and father, sister and brother_

 _Total strangers helping each other_

 _The day the world grew bigger_

 _I'll always remember"_

 _"It's the day the lights went out, the day the lights went on_

 _The day we got it right, the day we got it wrong_

 _It's the day that we were weak, and the day that we were strong_

 _It's the day we found a better way to get along?"_

 _"I'll always remember_

 _The way we came together_

 _Mother and father, sister and brother_

 _Total strangers helping each other_

 _The day the world grew bigger_

 _I'll always remember"_

Greg strummed the last cord on his guitar as he sang the chorus of the song one last time, to end his story.

For Steven, to say the story was saddening was an understatement. It had actually managed to get him to cry.

Once he calmed down, he asked another question to his father. One that would make him proud to be the father of Steven Quartz Universe.

"Are there any memorials?" He asked, sniffling still.

"There's one in Empire City, which is where Connie is. And another is in Shanksville, Keystone State, to commemorate the lives lost on Flight 93. Without their sacrifice, another building in Capital City could have been hit,". Greg explained.

Steven sat in silence for a few minutes before he responded.

"Can we go too?" Steven innocently asked his father.

"Sure Stu-ball," Greg said as he went to close "It's a wash" for the day, he was rich anyway.

 **Timeskip**

When the father and son arrived to Ground Zero, the scene was something too surreal for words. There was a 9/11 museum, and two big holes, square holes filled with water where the towers used to be, and around the edge, etched in the material, are the names of all the victims. Steven put a flower on one of the names, any name, which coincidently was also Steven.

Soon after, the Universes ran into the Maheshwarens.

Let's just say Steven and Connie were happy to see each other, embracing, both in happiness to see each other, but also to comfort one another after hearing of the events of 9/11 through their parents. Connie explained what her parents told her about 9/11 and the two just stared in silence at the fountains, their parents close by, doing the same thing, and all of them will never forget what happened, regardless if they were alive or not, on September 11th, 2001.

 **2,997 people died during the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the crash of Flight 93 in Shanksville. This fic. is a tribute to those people and the families affected. I felt that Steven Universe deserved a fic. that involved 9/11 since I feel it's a subject the show could tackle quite well. Not directly of course, but the concept of it, much better than anything I could do. Regardless though, I hope you liked it and please let me know how I did through reviews or PMs. See ya next time.**


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